Eagles 68, Memphis 85 - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 21, 2006

Eagles 68, Memphis 85

Date: Jan 21, 2006

Great effort by the Eagles tonight. They are much improved over earlier in the season.

Date: Jan 21, 2006

James Green went 22-11 in his second season at USM. Eustachy is only 7-12 at this point. JG's first year record was also better than LE's 11-17 year last season. It's interesting that USM fans will say "Green sucks" and "Eustachy is da man" at the same time.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

I do agree with Coach E on one point....the only time the eagles were really in the game was during the warm ups.

Folks can gloss over the basketball program all they want, but this coach will never bring this team or any other team to a championship level(unless C-USA has another reorganization and Carey and Spring Hill are new members and Memphis leaves). The past success of Coach E was apparently the results of luck and timing.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

a 17-point loss to the No. 4 team in the nation isn't bad for Southern Miss, considering you would have expected the loss to be as bad as, or worse than, last year's murder by Louisville

Date: Jan 22, 2006

Curt Yeomans wrote:

a 17-point loss to the No. 4 team in the nation isn't bad for Southern Miss, considering you would have expected the loss to be as bad as, or worse than, last year's murder by Louisville

Curt, wouldn't you consider Memphis a younger team than USM? I would. John Cox and M.K. kept making a point to recognize the "youth" of Memphis last night on the radio. Kareem Copeland's article in yesterday's HA also drove that point home. Some much for USM's lack of experience. Memphis took them behind the woodshed at RGC with an even younger bunch.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

For whatever it's worth, I agree with Curt. I was there (cheering for Memphis) and I thought USM played really well against the #4 team in the land. I think they've got something, and chances are pretty good that they'll end up doing respectably in C-USA this year.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

orate wrote:

Curt Yeomans wrote: a 17-point loss to the No. 4 team in the nation isn't bad for Southern Miss, considering you would have expected the loss to be as bad as, or worse than, last year's murder by Louisville Curt, wouldn't you consider Memphis a younger team than USM? I would. John Cox and M.K. kept making a point to recognize the "youth" of Memphis last night on the radio. Kareem Copeland's article in yesterday's HA also drove that point home. Some much for USM's lack of experience. Memphis took them behind the woodshed at RGC with an even younger bunch.

Oh I'm not saying it means the men's team is good this year, I'm just saying they did better than I would have expected them to do. Experience level aside, Calipari is one he..ck of a coach. He's a much better coach than Eustachy probably was when he was at his best. He's got talent high school players waiting years (they do have to complete their four years of high school first) to play for him.

I've always wondered why Tim Floyd has never been seriously pursued to coach USM. I know there would be a lot of comparisons between him and his father, but he's proved he can coach (not at the NBA level, but he does good at the college level). The way the story goes, Tim Floyd is the one who told Giannini to go after Eustachy.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

Curt Yeomans wrote:

I've always wondered why Tim Floyd has never been seriously pursued to coach USM.

Why would he?

Date: Jan 22, 2006

Conference-USAghhhh wrote:

Curt Yeomans wrote:
I've always wondered why Tim Floyd has never been seriously pursued to coach USM.
Why would he?

Because he has had success at the college level turning around struggling programs. Those who follow basketball closely know that Floyd's results usually get attributed to others (e.g., Larry Eustachy) but that the real work in flipping the program is done by Floyd.

Unfortunately, TF doesn't seem to be a good fit for NBA coaching, which is more like herding cats than coaching.

Oh, yes, and I'm 90% sure that he's from Hattiesburg.

Date: Jan 22, 2006

Here's a stat I find disturbing. USM shot just 60% from the free throw line against Memphis, going 27 of 45 from the charity stripe. Had USM shot, say even 75% from the line, USM would have gained an extra 7 points. USM lost by 17 and left 18 points sitting at the free throw line. Talk about leaving meat on the bone. One thing I'll never understand about "big time" basketball players is how they can shoot less than 75% from the free throw line.

From junior high to the NBA, the free throw line is 15 feet from the basket. Sure, there's pressure, but there's also nobody in your face. You can practice shooting free throws when you're rested, tight, and cold, and you can practice shooting free throws when you're dog-tired, loose, and sweating. The fact that USM shoots only 60% tells me something. It tells me that the players don't spend the time practicing, either on their own or during practice. It also tells me that Eustachy apparently doesn't consider free throws important enough to stress them in practice. Hitting key free throws at crucial points in the game could have swung momentum USM's way, though we'll never know for sure.

One thing that is for sure is that Memphis clearly has more talent than USM. Another is that Memphis has a better coach. I've heard Jeff Bower quoted as saying that if you do the little things right, big things will happen. Free throws, blocking out, diving for loose balls, playing good defense, and hustle would qualify as the little things that USM basketball doesn't do right. Until they do, don't expect big things to happen.